Uncovered - A Ghost Hunt Fanfiction
by caitybug13
Summary: After Naru and Lin decide to stay and continue Shibuya Psychic Research, they are soon given a tough case; A case that is linked to Mai's past, and the secret's she's been keeping from SPR. Mai kept her past in the dark for a reason, but she can't hide it forever.
1. Chapter 1

A/N You might find some small details have been altered from the original storyline but, unless I make a point to say otherwise, assume it's all the same as what happened in the original manga.

Chapter One - New feelings, New Case, and the Same Old Tea

Mai walked through the doors of SPR (Shibuya Psychic Research) at 7:00 am sharp, just on time. She sighed in relief as she set her things down and watched the minute hand tick to 7:01. Just as the breath had left her lungs a familiar shadow came into view.

"You're late." Naru said. Mai turned and gave him a death glare, but she was secretly relieved. It appeared everything was back to normal, at least for the time being. Naru walked across the floor and into his office. "Mai?" he said as he sat down, but it didn't sound like a question. "Tea." Naru said, and Mai said mockingly at the same time under her breath.

"Got it." She called. There was no response from Naru's office as Mai went to heat up water for Naru's usual tea.

It had only been a few weeks since they had found Gene, Naru's twin's, body. Naru had left Tokyo for Britain but had quickly returned. No one, not even Mai, was certain as to why Naru had returned so suddenly. He said something about being bored or something or other, but Mai didn't quite buy it. Her gut told her there was more to it than that, but she wasn't going to push it.

A part of her wished Naru had stayed away a little while longer, to give her a chance to sort out her feelings. She had come to accept that she had feelings for Naru a long time ago, but that was before she realized the Naru of her dreams, was actually his twin brother. Now she wasn't sure.

She knew she had cared for Gene, and she had mourned a little after finding out he was already dead. What she didn't know was whether all her feelings were because of Gene, or if a little bit of Naru was actually mixed up in there somewhere. After all, why did she still get that fluttery feeling in her stomach when she thought of Naru if she didn't like him?

Mai sighed and poured Naru's tea into a cup. It didn't even matter if Naru wasn't interested in _her._ And Mai didn't even know if Naru _could_ be interested in a girl, let alone interested in Mai.

After knocking lightly on Naru's door and getting permission to enter, Mai brought the tea to Naru, nearly tripping on her way to him. Out of the corner of his eye, Naru gave Mai a blank look. Her face reddened and she could only imagine what was going through his head. "Stupid," he muttered.

She set the cup down with a clank and, just as she was seriously considering tearing into him for his comment, there was a knock at the door.

Mai hurried to the door, leaving Naru in his office with no sign that he was planning to get up, and opened the door. A young woman, barely older than Mai herself, stood on the other side. She had dark brown hair that just reached her shoulders in layered waves and sad blue eyes.

"I hope I've come to the right place," the girl began, "I need help. I think I have ghost. And I think the ghost wants to kill me."

Mai smiled sadly, "You've come to the right place alright." She opened the door wider and let the girl come in and take a seat. "Let me get my boss."

It looked like they had a new case, and from the sounds of things, it was a big one.


	2. Chapter 2

***I do not own Ghost Hunt and all of its awesomeness***

Chapter Two- The Forgotten Past

-The Night Before-

_There was a crash, followed by a girl's scream. Mai immediately jumped to her feet and went running towards the noise. It didn't surprise her that she had been laying on the floor of a strange room, nor did it surprise her that when she entered the room where the noise had come from, objects were sailing through the air, floating, as if attached to puppet strings. Something felt familiar about everything around her, eerily familiar._

_She assumed it was one of her dreams, but there was something different about this one. It felt almost as if she had dreamt this very same dream before, but had forgotten all of the details. Sort of like déjà vu. _

_Mai took a step back and watched as a baseball flew past and crashed into the wall beside her. Her breath caught. That had almost been her head._

_Her eyes trailed to the left and she let out a heavy breath. It was as if Mai had no control over her thoughts or actions. Her mouth formed the words and she called out "dad?!" when her eyes found the crumpled form of a man up against the wall. She ran to him and bent to expertly check his pulse and breathing. There was none. This man was dead. A shard of glass had nearly severed his head from his body._

_Mai didn't know what she was doing, or why she felt everything inside of her break. Did she know this man? Why did this death seem tragic to her, but completely unsurprising?_

_Mai turned and wasn't surprised to see the figure of a young girl standing in the middle of the room, objects swirling around the girl's head as if she were producing her own personal tornado. The girl was sobbing, letting out loud wailing cries._

I'm sorry,_ Mai heard the voice, but the girl's mouth never moved. The words sounded as if they were coming from her own head, but she recognized almost immediately that the words belonged to the girl. _I didn't mean to. Please help me… I didn't mean to.

_Mai stepped closer, warning bells going off in her head. Something was really dangerous about this girl, but this was her sister. She had to be there for her sister, no matter what. She had promised._

_And Mai realized then that the girl _was_ her sister. Not only that, but this was her twin, her other half. The girl's face mirrored a younger version of herself, but her eyes were haunted with things Mai knew she would never understand. As Mai approached her sister, something pushed her away, a force similar to heavy wind. But this force had no physical properties, and it made it more and more difficult to get close to her sister._

_With each step she took her thoughts battled each other._

She killed our father.

She's my sister.

But she's a murderer.

She had no control.

She could kill you.

I promised to protect her.

No one can protect her.

_Mai stopped in front of her twin. _That's not true, _she thought. _You know how to protect her, you just don't want to do it._ She looked into the broken eyes of her sister and knew it was time, time to tell the truth, time to step up and do her part. Protecting her twin was more important than anything. It was more important than her own happiness, or their need to stay together._

_Mai wrapped her arms around the small frame of her younger sister. Even if they were only a few minutes apart, Mai would still always be the oldest. Her sister's sobs shook both of their bodies and Mai stroked her hair._

_"I'll protect you. I promise," she whispered, "Everything will be okay."_

_Mai stayed with her until their mother came home, and until her twin was sound asleep._

_She then explained everything to their mother, all of the secrets she had kept, and the plan to save what was left of her family._

_Her mother reluctantly agreed._

_That would be the beginning of everything._

Mai woke with a start, jumping up in bed and gasping for breath. The last words of her dream echoed in her head. "That would be the beginning of everything," as if a narrator were telling a story in her head.

Mai bit her lip, not at all sure what to think of her dream. It had disturbed her, the way her family's past had gotten mixed up with all the supernatural stuff she dealt with for work.

She took a deep breath. _None of it was true. None of it was real, _she told herself. _It was all just a dream. I really creepy, really realistic, dream._ And if it was _just_ a dream, than she knew she shouldn't dwell on it any longer.

Looking to her left, she caught a glimpse of the face of her clock. She sighed. Four more hours before she had to get up for work. It would be the first day back to work with Naru. She needed all of the sleep she could get before dealing with that stress.

Lying back down, Mai forced herself into a restless slumber for the rest of the night.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three- The Case of the Haunted Laboratory

The gang arrived quickly. Mai was glad for it. She didn't want to spend any more time alone with Naru, especially since Lin was nowhere to be found.

Where was Lin, you ask? Mai didn't know due to a certain narcissistic person who refused to answer, or even acknowledge, her questions. She thought she was relieved to find the same old Naru when she came to work today, but now the "same old Naru" was making her angry.

What better thing to do but glare and pout like a child until the gang arrived? Mai laughed to herself.

The woman, their newest client, had explained in very short terms what was happening, and now Mai was busy unloading the van and carrying equipment up to their new base. Thankfully, it was still morning, because the location of their newest case gave Mai the chills like she had never had before. It was creepy to say the least.

A large stone gate enclosed an imposing, mansion-like, building that was apparently a scientific laboratory. The inside was neglected enough for one to think the place might be rundown, but clean enough that Mai wasn't sure if they weren't still using the building for some sort of experimentation. The women who had asked them to come had given very little information, just that no one would be in the building for the time being, except maybe her, the owner of the building, and a "close friend."

A shiver went down Mai's spine. She already felt like something was off about the case, but she had been the one who insisted on taking it right away. Naru had almost turned the young woman away when Mai had interrupted. Naru hadn't argued with her, which was weird, when she told the women they would take the case immediately, but he had given her a look that seemed to question her reasoning. He wasn't the only one wondering why she had taken the case so suddenly. Mai herself didn't even know.

As Mai was hefting a heavy box out of the van, she heard gravel turn and smiled excitedly. She hadn't seen the gang since Naru had left Japan for his home. She couldn't wait to see all of them. Especially Monk. She had missed that make-shift family of hers, and now that she saw them she didn't know how she had survived those three long weeks without them all.

"Hey kid," Monk placed his hand on her head and Mai couldn't help but flash a grin. Monk took the heavy box from her and groaned, already heading into the building as he complained about how heavy it was.

Mai greeted the rest of her friends and, just like that, everything seemed to be back to normal.

Of course, Mai knew is wasn't all back to normal. Not after everything that had happened, but, for now, she could pretend like it was. She knew that, eventually, she would have to confront her own feelings for Naru, that she would have to tell him what she felt, and that she would likely have her heart broken. She knew that, after that happened, there would be no going back, that Naru would leave, and, with him, the rest of the gang.

Then, everything would be back to the way it was almost two years ago. She would be alone, trying to pretend she wasn't so lonely. Except this time she hadn't been left and broken by one person, but by an entire group.

Her dream came back to her again and she allowed herself to think momentarily about her sister. The sister who had left her during the hardest of times.

Maybe her dream last night had only been metaphorical, a mix-up of all the emotions she held for her sister and dramatized in a strange dream. Obviously her sister hadn't killed her father. Her father had died from sickness or… something. Mai wasn't really sure, actually. She didn't remember her father all that much anymore. But she was certain that if she had seen her sister kill her father, she would have remembered _that_.

No… Mai had bad feelings towards her twin, but not because she had done anything that horrendous. Her bad feelings simply stemmed from her sister leaving her at the worst time possible, just when she needed the support of her other half. Just when she had no other family left.

But now she had another family, and she wasn't going to waste any time with them, even if they will likely leave too. She had learned that family was too valuable to take for granted.

Mai had just finished bringing in all of the equipment, and just began setting up the base when Lin arrived completing their group of Naru, Lin, Mai, Monk, John, and Ayako. Masako was busy with her show and wouldn't be able to help with the case for the time being.

The group crowded around. Ayako made herself comfortable in a chair, Monk standing beside her and John next to him. Lin took his usual seat with his laptop open and fingers perched on the keyboard. Naru stood at the head of the group, claiming all attention for himself, and Mai naturally gravitated near him.

Oliver Davis, also known as Naru the Narcissist, tapped his finger against the top of the table while he thought. Only Mai noticed this, as the rest of the group was busy quietly arguing in the background. Finally, Naru spoke.

"Lin, the schematics."

Lin nodded and pulled out a large piece of paper that was rolled into a long tube. Naru took it and unrolled it on top of the table. It was the entire layout of the building.

"Where'd you get that!" Mai exclaimed. "I thought the client said it was lost in a fire a long time ago!"

"It was easy enough to find, Mai. You're just stupid. "Mai scowled. Was it just her or was he calling her stupid more than usual these days? That was twice today, and the day was only half over. "We'll need cameras set up where activity was most commonly reported," Naru continued, "And audio. Mai, I can trust you can handle that?"

Mai nodded and gave a small salute with her fingers. "Yes sir!" She smiled, "but shouldn't you catch everyone up on what's going on?"

"Yeah, Naru. You called us out here and didn't even tell us what the case was about." Monk crossed his arms in front of his chest and rocked back on his heels.

"Mai," Naru turned to look down at her, "tell them. You're the one who wanted this case." Then Naru crossed his own arms as well.

Mai rolled her eyes and sighed. She was in a room that felt filled with testosterone and stubbornness. Thankfully, Naru was the only narcissist in the room. His narcissism alone was more than enough for Mai. She didn't need any more.

"A woman came in this morning. She was really anxious and upset, and told me that she thought she was being haunted, and that the ghost was trying to kill her. After I sat her down and got Naru she explained that she worked in a science lab, this laboratory, and that there had always been some weird things that went on in the building. Recently, it all got worse. According to her, after the phenomena increased, a woman, a coworker of our client's, disappeared."

The gang looked at her. Finally, Ayako spoke, "That's it? She didn't say what activity made her think it was haunted, or what makes her think it wants to kill her? What about the girl who disappeared, any more information on her?"

Mai shook her head.

"She refused to give us any more information. We don't know the name of the girl." Naru said and then turned to Lin. "Did you find what I asked you to look for?"

"There was nothing in any recent news, social media, or blogs that reported a recent disappearance of a young woman in the area."

_So that's where Lin was, _Mai thought.

"Then we have nothing to even go on." Monk said. "We don't even know if there is even a haunting in this building."

"And if the client won't speak to us anymore, than how are we suppose to help her?" John looked genuinely concerned about the issue, and his face reflected what Mai felt.

"There isn't enough information to build a case on." Naru admitted, "And we don't have Masako's skill to fall back on. Mai insisted on taking the case, and she is the only one present who can readily use psychic abilities. This case will rest on her shoulders."

The gang looked at Mai skeptically, all accept Naru, who seemed to shockingly encouraging her with his eyes. Mai felt the weight and the responsibility heavy on her shoulders, but she straightened her shoulders. "There _is_ something more to this case. I can feel it."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four - A Deathly Experience

Three days passed with absolutely no activity. Naru, Mai, Lin, and the rest of the gang scoured through videos, audio, and research, only to find... nothing. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happened in the laboratory, and to Mai it seemed the only scary thing in the building was Naru and his cold disappointment.

It wasn't long before everyone was discouraged, and even Mai was doubting herself. Maybe she had been wrong. Maybe there was nothing in this laboratory but dust and strange equipment.

Most of the gang was ready to go home, but Mai still refused. Despite her doubts, something in her gut told her they needed to stay.

The only thing that kept everyone there was Naru's surprisingly consistent faith in Mai's ability. But even he seemed slightly frustrated with the lack of supernatural activity. Nevertheless, he continued the investigation.

On the third day of their stay Mai found herself coming to Naru for his opinion. As Naru watched another video from one of the many rooms they were taping, Mai brought him a cup of tea and set it down in front of him. She was strangely impressed with the amount of effort Naru was putting into this case, especially since he hadn't wanted to take it up originally. Mai wasn't sure what was going on with Naru lately, but something had slightly shifted in their relationship and Naru was treating her a little bit differently than normal.

Naru had slight bags under his eyes as he looked over at the cup of tea and then glanced at Mai. His eyes immediately went back to the video, but he spoke. "I didn't ask for tea."

Mai pursed her lips, a little uncomfortable. "I know, but I thought you might like some. You've been working extra hard lately."

"I wouldn't be if you hadn't volunteered us for the case, stupid."

Mai ignored the name-calling. Naru had been calling her stupid an excessive amount lately, so much so that, in the past few days, it had felt more like a nickname than an insult. That was another thing that was off about Naru lately.

"About that..." she trailed off, not sure what to say. Her pride was making her bite her tongue.

Naru looked over at her with the corner of his eye. "Say it."

"Well, umm... I've been thinking lately. I may have been wrong about this case. There hasn't been any activity or anything and, it just seems, maybe I was wrong to insist. Everybody has been here supporting me and my gut but I'm not sure anymore. There's probably not anything going on here."

Naru paused the video and leaned back in his chair. He stared straight forward, not looking at her. "Do you really believe that?"

"What?"

Naru shot her a look. "Yes or no. Do you really believe what you just said?"

Mai didn't have to think about it. She shook her head. Her gut still told her that something more was going on, and she couldn't help but believe what her gut said.

Naru turned back to his computer. "Mai, tea. It's gone cold." Mai smiled slightly. That was the end of that. Apparently, they were staying a little longer.

On the fourth day their client showed up, with two other people. The client, whose name was Keiko, introduced the two men with her. The older of the two she called Toshio and he smiled and bowed politely to the entire gang.

"Toshio is... an old friend. And this is Fumio-san, my boss." she gestured to the man on her left, who's blank expression never left his face as he tilted his head in a slight bow. The gang did so as well.

"It's nice to meet you." Mai said to the two new acquaintances.

"We don't intend to stay long." Keiko explained quickly. "We only wanted to finish up some work, and check in on how your investigation was doing while we were here."

Before Mai could respond, Naru was taking matters into his own hands. "Why don't we all go inside for a cup of tea? There are some questions I would like to discuss with you."

Keiko immediately froze, and seemed to open her mouth to deny Naru. Mai wondered what it was that Keiko so desperately wanted to hide from them that she would refuse to talk about the case. Before Keiko could turn Naru's proposition down though, her boss, Fumio, stopped her.

"That would be fine." Both Keiko and Toshio looked at their boss in shock, but quickly composed their features.

Neru led the entire group into one of the more comfortable of the building's rooms. The room reminded Mai of a large living room, or maybe a small waiting room. The three clients took their seats. Gesturing to Lin, probably to tell him to get his computer, Naru took a seat across from the client.

Mai rushed to the kitchen to collect tea. She knew Naru expected it from her, but she wanted to hurry. Whatever the group was going to tell them, she wanted to hear. Nevertheless, it took her nearly fifteen minutes to find the kitchen and prepare enough tea for everyone. The building was huge, and, on her way back, Mai found herself not at all where she meant to be.

Holding a tray full of cooling tea, Mai turned in a circle. She had somehow ended up in a hallway that seemed unfamiliar to her. She had no idea where she was, or how she had gotten there.

Hear the creaking of floorboards behind her, Mai turned around with a relieved expression on her face, expecting to find one of the members of SPR. Instead, what she found was all together different.

The tray of tea dropped to the floor, scalding Mai's bare legs. But Mai paid the burning sensation no attention. Her mind was on what was standing, or rather, floating, in front of her.

Mai let out a surprised scream.

Naru watched out of the corner of his eye as Mai left, probably to go get the tea for their clients. He was slightly disappointed that he hadn't gotten to annoy her by demanding his tea before she had gone to get it herself. Silently, he scolded himself. What was he thinking?

Naru turned to the three people in front of him, waiting until Lin was back, computer in hand, to lean back and begin his questioning.

"Explain exactly what happened here, miss Keiko, that makes you so certain the building is haunted, and that your life has been threatened."

Keiko exchanged a look, first with her boss and then with the "friend." She sighed.

"Our company deals with paranormal research. It's a small company, one very few people have heard of, but we are very knowledgeable in many aspects of paranormal research."

"My company deals solely in psychic abilities, PK, and the such. We have helped many people deal with their abilities, and learned a great deal about how to help hone psychic powers," Fumio-san added.

"Nevertheless, we do not deal with ghosts." Keiko took over again after her bosses int eruption. "We bought this building a little over two years ago, with the intention of expanding. We were not aware of any supernatural activity going on at this it soon became apparent that we were dealing with a spirit of some sort.

"There used to be another woman who worked with us. When we realized we had a ghost on our hands, she immediately wanted to go to a specialist. I talked Fumio-san out of it, insisting that this was the perfect opportunity for paranormal researchers to broaden the field of study. I wanted to study the activity and learn about the spirit as best as I could. I was not aware of the dangers, or that we had such a violent and powerful spirit on our hands."

Keiko stopped, and even Naru noticed how emotional she was getting. Whatever came next in the story upset her beyond the point of being able to speak,

Toshio continued the story, in a more blunt fashion.

"Keiko's friend disappeared one day. She was in the basement one moment, working on some paperwork, and the next, she was gone."

Naru leaned forward and stared at his entwined fingers. "How is it you know she didn't simply leave?"

"She would have had to pass by one of us in order to get out of the basement, let alone leave the building. And," Keiko sniffled, "We have security cameras set up at all of the exits. She wasn't caught on tape leaving the building."

Keiko paused again, took a deep breath and added, "Plus, I've seen her ghost."

A scream echoed through the building. Keiko jumped and Naru froze. He knew that voice. Mai...

Lin, Naru, and Keiko stood suddenly, hurrying towards the sound of Mai's screaming, Naru in the lead, Lin, Naru, and Keiko ran into the rest of SPR, minus Mai, in the hallway. They looked as surprised by the sudden screams as Naru was.

"What happened?" Naru demanded. Monk shook his head, indicating that he knew no more than Naru did. Without hesitation, Naru turned on his heel and hurried toward where he thought he had heard the scream, the rest of the team behind him.

Naru stopped suddenly at the end of the hall, staring at Mai, who stood perfectly calm, watching the group with an unfamiliar look on her face. Something felt off, but Naru couldn't put his finger on it. He stepped closer to Mai.

"Mai, are you alright?" Monk asked. Mai's eyes flitted briefly over to Monk, and then returned to meet Naru's.

"She must be warned." Mai said.

And with a flicker she disappeared, as if she hadn't ever been there at all. Naru's heart dropped. What he had just seen was a ghost; a ghost that looked identical to Mai.

Naru couldn't move. His body was frozen, trying to process what he had just seen.

If that was a ghost, and it looked exactly like Mai, then... that could only mean one thing.

Naru took off running.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - A Strange Occurrence

Mai heard the crash of the tea tray hitting the ground, and felt the scalding water against her bare legs, but her eyes remained on the sight in front of her. A scream rang out around her and it was only after the echoes had faded that she realized it was her own scream.

"Why?!" The voice was harsh and gravely, and spit out like it left a bad taste in the ghost's mouth. "Why did you do it. You have to pay for what you did, you monster!"

Mai's breath caught in her throat. Before she could even think about running, she was flung against a nearby wall. She gritted her teeth at the crack of her head against the wall.

The ghost approached slowly, moving his legs as if he were walking although his feet never touched the ground. Mai attempted to get up and run, but she found that she couldn't move from her place pinned against the wall.

_No,_ she thought, _please no. Someone help me! _But she couldn't seem to force her mouth open to call for help. Her breathing picked up. _I'm going to die, _she thought. And she knew deep in her gut that, if she didn't get help, she would.

She leaned back into the wall as the ghost got closer, until she could feel his warm, rotten breath on her face. He was definitely a man under all of the blood and misshapen bones, although nearly unrecognizable as human.

Anger radiated from the ghost so strongly that Mai could almost see it, but the emotion quickly dissipated into something that better resembled disappointment. He pressed his palm against Mai's lower throat and squeezed just enough that Mai couldn't seem to get as much air as her body demanded. "Look at what you did to me! Look at what you did to _us_!"

Mai shook her head, trying to tell the ghost that she hadn't done anything, but it was futile. Her lungs were burning with the lack of oxygen and black spots clouded her vision. "Please..." she croaked out with the last bit of air in her lungs. Either the ghost didn't hear her, or he didn't care.

The next thing Mai knew, everything was black.

Monk felt his heart stop for a moment when Mai's form flickered, and then disapeared. His mind couldn't make sense of it. The girl was definitely Mai. She was the same age, with the same short brown hair and rounded face. There was no question in Monk's mind, the girl who just disapeared out of thin air was his Mai.

As he was trying to process the information, and come to terms with what this meant, he felt Naru freeze beside him. It tool Naru a second less to react and to race down the hall in the same general direction as where they had heard her scream, but Monk was right behind him, and the rest of the gang followed close behind.

Monk nearly ran into Naru's back when Naru stopped suddenly in the middle of an empty room.

"Naru... what are you..." but Monk trailed off at the look on Naru's face. It was a strange occurence indeed to see any sort of emotion pass Naru's face, other than smug satisfaction. But whatever Naru was feeling now was too deep and too huge for him to conceal. His eyes were widened slighlty in horror, and there was a turn in his lips that hinted at desperation.

Monk followed his line of sight and gasped.

"Mai!" he yelled, rushing over to the limp and lifeess form laying on the ground.

Monk rolled the girl onto her back, pushing hair out of the way to see Mai's face, and then placed his fingers under her chin to try to find a pulse.

He could feel his eyes watering, but he pushed the tears back.

_No,_ he thought. He couldn't lose Mai. The group couldn't lose Mai. She was the glue that held them together.

Monk didn't know what Mai was to him, but he knew that he loved her. And not necessarily in a weird, romantic way. He just loved her, simple as that. He would be happy being whatever she needed him to be; brother, father, friend. He knew that, if given the choice, he would rather die than to see her hurt.

So, Mai _couldn't _die. It would ruin him. It would ruin everyone in the group.

Monk felt a sharp tug at his arm, and was pulled away from the lifeless Mai, only to be replaced by Naru. He appeared to be in better control over his emotions, but his mask was so thin that surely the whole group could see right through it.

Naru bent, placing his fingers on Mai's throat, trying to find a pulse, just as Monk had done. Naru's eyes hardened.

"Ayako." he snapped. The woman, who, up until then had been completely shell shocked, nodded and rushed to Mai's side.

"Ayako," Naru stopped her and she turned hesitantly toward the seventeen year old, "She cannot die."

Again, Ayako nodded, recognizing the barely concealed threat in his tone. She turned back to the young girl.

Monk was still frozen on the ground. He agreed with Naru. Mai cannot die.

But, he thought, it might be too late.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Coming Back

_"Look at what you did to me! Look at what you did to _us!"

The words twisted and warped themselves into Mai's head, almost as if they were a living, breathing thing, smothering her from the inside out. Had she hurt somebody? She couldn't quite remember, but her gut was telling her yes, she had done something terrible. Something unforgivable.

But, what had she done exactly? She couldn't recall her own name, let alone what horrific thing she had done to deserve this awful fate. Her lungs burned, as if someone had poured acid down her throat, and her head felt heavier than it should. She felt suspended in a never ending death, caught on some sort of edge, as if she wasn't quite dead yet, but wasn't alive either.

"_Look at what you did.." _The words pierced her again. Again, she asked herself what it was that she did. If only she could remember...

Images flashed through her mind. First, a dark haired boy with piercing blue eyes and a scowl that made her heart flutter, than a series of images containing the faces of people who made her feel warm. It all seemed so achingly familiar. If this was the life she had lived before this moment, than Mai knew she could be happy.

But the warm images were soon interrupted by something darker, and more sinister. A picture of her own face, reflecting horror. A grave. A woman with dying eyes. A man, bloody and lifeless. Her own hands, soaked in blood.

_You killed them_

The thought struck her hard. _That_ is what she had done. _That _was the horrible deed she had committed that haunted her and strangled her and kept her trapped in this hell. She was a cold-hearted killer.

Mai settled back, accepting the torturous feeling inside of herself. After all, she deserved this fate.

...

Mai didn't know how much time passed until the pain began to lift. It could have been days, hours, or just mere seconds. All she knew was that, slowly, she could feel herself coming back into herself again. As if, until that moment, she hadn't quite existed. The pain edged away, and she was suddenly aware that she could feel her body again, move again.

A part of her wanted to hold on to the pain that had disappeared. It was a comfort, a reminder of the horrible thing she had done, and of what she deserved.

But, as the pain left her, her own awareness came back. She found herself opening her eyes and staring into an eterity of blank nothingness. It was pure white, all around her. She realized that this was more of a hell than any amount of pain could be. The pain she had felt only moment before was at least something. This was literally nothing.

At least, she thought it was nothing. Until a voice called out to her softly, so soft that it could have almost been a figment of her imagination. She stood uneasily and looked about her, finding nothing.

"Mai."

The voice was louder this time, and Mai turned quickly on her heal to find its source.

There. There, in the midst of the nothingness, were two shadowy figures. She was tempted to feel frightened, but something told her there was no need to fear.

As if on cue, the shadows dissipated to reveal two faces she recognized almost instantly.

On the right was a dark haired, blue eyed boy. He wore nothing but black. If Mai could have seen his face, she would guess it was a scowl. "Naru?" She questioned. Her memories still weren't quite put together yet, so she wasn't sure. But the name felt right on her tongue.

"No, Mai." Startled, Mai turned to the other figure, the one who had spoken. Her heart nearly left her chest. A short brown haired, brown eyed girl looked back at her. It was the same image she saw in the mirror every morning.

Mai stepped forward hesitantly and reached for the girl. "You're... me?"

The girl smiled sadly. "You need to go back Mai, before its too late."

"Go back where?"

"Home." The boy answered. "You're not dead yet, you've just temporarily misplaced your body. When you felt yourself dying, some instinct deep inside you took over. Your spirit left you body, somehow preserving yourself." He saw Mai's confused look. "We don't know how it happened. It shouldn't have worked, but it did. Do you feel that tug? It's your body pulling you back, listen to it. You need to go back before there's any physical damage. After all, your body thinks its dead right now."

Mai still didn't understand. This was all so bizarre. So, she voiced her thoughts. "I don't understand. Who are you? What is this place?"

"It's okay, Mai." the girl who looked like her answered softly, "You don't need to understand now. You will, in due time. Just know this..."

Suddenly, as if she were being pulled on a string, Mai felt herself drifting away. As if leaving consciousness. Everything was fading.

"Know what?" Mai asked, desperate to hear the words the girl needed to say.

"I was only keeping my promise. I love you."

There was just enough time to hear the girl's words before Mai found herself breathing again.

...

The sudden shock of air entering her lungs left Mai in a terrible state. Her eyes jerked open, panicked, and her hands reached out to grasp something. She was breathing. Hyperventilating was more like it. The first thing she could make sense of was Ayaoko's relieved face being pushed away and replaced by something entirely different.

She was still reaching, desperate for something to hold onto, until she found a pair of large hands grasping hers in a tight grip, and pushing her hands down securely. She met a pair of calm, piercing blue eyes that seemed to stare into her.

"Calm down. Breath." Naru demanded.

His familiar demanding tone calmed Mai down enough to notice her laboring breaths. She still couldn't get enough air to her lungs.

"Naru..." her voice came out a gravely whisper, although it felt as if she were screaming, "I can't..."

_I can't breath,_ she thought. But the words never left her lips because, again, she found herself in darkness. Only, this time at least she knew she was alive.

...

She felt heavy. It wasn't a bad kind of heavy. The heaviness was comforting. It was an existing kind of heaviness. She felt glad to know she was alive, and back in her body, where she belonged.

Mai opened her eyes and attempted to sit up, only to be stopped by wires and tubes connected to her skin and face. She was in a hospital.

Her eyes darted around the unfamiliar hospital room, nervous. She didn't like hospitals. As far as she knew, no one liked hospitals. But it was especially disconcerting to find herself in a dark hospital room, seemingly alone.

She attempted to sit up again, pulling needles and things out of her body in order to do so. She made sure to leave the little tube pumping air into her nose in, though. She wasn't quite ready to give up any source of air. As she was pulling at a needle in her forearm, a noise startled her, and she let out a scream that sounded more like a strangled cat noise than anything.

She looked up and was relieved to find a familiar boy standing in the doorway, staring at her blankly.

"Mai," was all he said. It was all he needed to say. His dark look and glance at all of the wiring she had attempted to break free of said it all.

Mai blushed furiously. "Sorry..." she muttered, and then grasped her throat. It _hurt_. She hadn't noticed until now how bad her throat hurt.

"Don't talk." Naru said.

_Well, look who's trying to be helpful, _Mai thought. _You're a little late with that advice._

She rolled her eyes and Naru sighed, seemingly annoyed. He approached her and took a hold of her arm.

"Wh-what are you doing?"

Naru glared. "Didn't I tell you not to talk?" He shook his head and went back to her arm. "What does it look like I'm doing, Mai? I'm fixing your mess."

Mai scowled and pulled her arm away. Sighing again, Naru held his hand out expectantly. He sure was used to getting his way... "Do you want me to have to call the nurse back in here, or will you let me put this IV back in myself?"

Frowning further in sudden defeat, Mai handed her arm back over to Naru. How did he know how to put an IV in anyway? She would have asked, but it didn't seem worth the extra effort.

They settled into an awkward, but strangely comforting silence. Until it was broken by a certain narcissist. "You will be explaining everything you know tomorrow, and don't think to keep anything from me."

With those words, Naru stepped away from the hospital bed and settled down into a seat against the wall. "Go to sleep Mai."

Then Oliver Davis closed his eyes. Mai did the same, never thinking to question why Naru had stayed in her hospital room over night. And never noticing that, as soon as Mai had settled down to sleep, Naru had opened his eyes and begun to watch her all through the night.

...

A/N I know. I know... I still haven't explained everything, but I promise things will begin to make sense in the next chapter. For those of you who have stuck with my choppy story and awful writing... thank you so very much.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N sorry this is so short. I've been having writers block with this story and hadn't written anything. Probably because I have no idea where this story is headed :/ IT finally came to me though, although I didn't have a lot of time to write so I just wrote a short chapter and figured I would go ahead and post it, so as not to make you all wait even longer (I keep getting told to update, so I'll go ahead and update... even if it is short.)

Let me know what you think.

Chapter 7- The Hospital Serves Awful Tea

The next time Mai awoke, she wasn't alone. She groaned, eyes still closed and mind still far away in dreamland. She stretched, squeezing her fists, and then groaned again under her breath. She held something in her hand; something warm and…

"Naru?" she questioned sleepily.

Her eyes fluttered open and she glanced around. She blinked, trying to clear her mind. Ayako sat beside her bed, hand held in Mai's own. When Mai met her eyes, Ayako winked and tilted her head quickly to the side. "He's over there."

Mai glanced in the direction Ayako had indicated and when her eyes landed on a particularly dark and surly figure, her cheeks reddened. She sat up quickly.

"Naru!"

From the corner, Oliver Davis gave Mai a disparaging look, no longer even needing words to call her an idiot. Mai winced, partially due to the pain of sudden movement, but mostly because of her own reaction to Naru's presence. Choosing to ignore Naru for now, she looked around the room, smiling at the familiar faces. John stood off to one side, smiling sadly at her in a way only Brown-san could do. And Ayako stood fretfully above her, hand clenched in her own.

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" Ayako asked in that voice that made her sound like an overprotective and caring mother. Mai shook her head and tried to smile. From the looks of those in the room she must not have quite succeeded.

"Wha-" her voice cracked. Mai cleared her throat, wincing at the sting, and tried again. "What happened?"

"You died Mai," John said quietly from his spot in the corner.

"I- I died?"

"Twice, actually." Naru stepped forward and gave her cold a once-over, seemingly not happy at what he saw. Mai's cheeks reddened and she scolded herself in her head. How could she be worried about Naru's impression of her when she had just died? Twice!

"How do you feel Mai?" Mai blinked slowly and looked up at Naru. Had he just… asked her how she felt? That was uncharacteristically warm of him.

"I'm fine. I-"

"Good," Naru interrupted. "We can begin with questions then."

Mai's eyes narrowed. Yep, he was still a jerk. "You stupid narcissistic jerk," she growled. "I almost died… no, I did die, and all you're worried about are your stupid questions?!" Naru stood calmly in his spot as the young girl searched around her for something to throw at him. She looked at Ayako. "Ayako, give me your purse."

In surprise, Ayako looked down at her bag. She seemed to be contemplating it.

"Mai, you are being completely immature about this."

"Immature!? At least I'm human. You can't even manage that much!"

Naru sighed, looking down at his notebook and completely ignoring the brunette. She had opened her mouth to say something probably equally immature and possibly (hopefully) insulting, but Naru cut her off.

"What does 'she must be warned' mean? Who?"

Mai frowned. "What?"

"So you don't remember. Interesting." Naru tapped his fingers lightly against a nearby tabletop, and Mai knew he was thinking. It was a habit of his she had come to recognize. "What do you remember, Mai?"

"I don't… I'm not sure." She looked down at her folded hands and squeezed the sheet tighter between her fists. "There – there was a man, a ghost, and he… he was sad. No, he was angry. He…"

The images flashed through her head again. Now she remembered. "He pinned me to the wall and…" her hand wrapped itself around her throat, "he chocked me. I couldn't breath and I thought I Was going to die. I – I did die, I think. There was… you were there Naru." She shook her head. "No, it was Gene. And," Mai swallowed and stared hard at her bed sheets, "She was there too."

"She who?"

Mai's eyes shot up to meet Naru's, surprised. "No one." He raised his eyebrows and she knew he knew she was lying. After staring at each other for a moment, Naru finally gave in. He looked away. "Okay, anything else?"

Mai cleared her throat, and then winced.

"Naru!"Ayako scolded, "Give Mai a chance to recover. She shouldn't be talking at all right now, I don't even know how she's talking right now." Ayako gave her a weird look and then shook her head, turning to Naru. "Your questions can wait long enough for us to call a nurse."

"I'm fine. I don't need…" but Ayako had already successfully poked her head outside of the hospital room and hailed down a nurse.

A young, attractive, woman in a white nurses uniform stepped into the room. She looked at Mai. "I will have the doctor come in in just a moment. In the meantime, is there anything I can get for you?"

Mai shook her head and the nurse turned to Naru. "What about you? You haven't left this room, such a dedicated young man. There must be something I can get for you."

"A cup of tea, thank you."

The nurse nodded and ducked back out of the room. Mai glanced at Naru, who was staring anywhere but at her. She giggled and Naru finally met her eyes. "Dedicated…" she giggled again.

"I cannot begin to fathom the idiotic thoughts that must be running through your head, Mai, but whatever they are I can assure you they are wrong."

Mai frowned, "You mean you aren't the smartest most brilliant and dedicated ghost hunter in the world?"

Naru shook his head and looked away from her, but Mai thought she saw the faintest twitch of his lips at her words. She smiled.

The nurse returned a moment later with a cup of tea in her hands. She handed it to Naru and then turned to all of them. "The doctor will be in in a moment."

"Thank you," Mai said, doing her best attempt at a polite bow while still remaining in her bed.

Not a second after the nurses back had disappeared there as a sputtering sound coming from one corner of the room. Everyone turned, surprised to look at Naru. Clearing his throat, Naru placed the tea cup carefully down on the table and looked away. "That tea is aweful," was all he said.

Mai smiled, knowing the first thing she'd be doing when she finally got out of this hospital bed. Because Naru didn't spit _her_ tea out.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N Sorry that this update came so late. But, I hope you like it. Most of it is pretty much just filler, I think. But, the next update should be pretty exciting! I'm looking forward to it and everything I've got in store (if all goes according to plan).

Let me know what you think :)

Also, it is unedited so...

Chapter 8 – A Resolution to Tell Him the Truth

Mai was released the next afternoon, which allowed time for several tests and a period of observation for the doctor's sake, and a period of rest for her own. God knows as soon as she gets out she's going to be put to work… namely by Naru and mostly for the sake of his tea. Mai blushed. She didn't really mind the idea of making Naru's tea. Not since yesterday, when he had spit out the tea the hospital had made him.

It was nearly two in the afternoon when she was finally walking out of the hospital door and into the early afternoon sunlight. She squinted her eyes and searched the parking lot for the SPR van.

Lin had come to pick her up, while the rest of SPR were working on the case. Since Mai's accident, the gang had been extra gung-ho about solving the case of the haunted laboratory. But they had insisted that Mai go straight home, as opposed to coming back to help them. And then, she was told she was to work out of the office, by herself, until the case was solved. By no means was she to return to the laboratory.

As Mai followed Lin to the van (because she couldn't find it on her own), she scoffed to herself. Lin looked at her out of the corner of his eye, a questioning look in his eye. She waved and smiled, but kept her thoughts to herself. If she told Lin she was thinking about how she _wasn't _planning on following Naru's orders, he would simply report back to his boss, and she would be in big trouble.

Sure, she would go home tonight. But surely by morning she could come up with a way to get back to the laboratory, right? It's not like she didn't have any other means of transport…

Lin was silent all the way to her apartment, where he dropped her off with a blank look on his face. Mai was hopping out of the car when he finally spoke. "I hope you aren't planning on ignoring Naru's orders, Mai."

Her eyes shot up to catch Lin's eye. She blushed red in embarrassment, thought better of it, and then turned even redder out of anger.

"Why should I listen to that stupid idiot scientist?! This was _my _case!" She frowned. "He even said so himself."

Lin frowned at her. "I won't stop you from doing what you want to do, but they are asking you to stay home for your own good. Don't upset them more than they already are."

Mai crossed her arms in front of her. She didn't like it, but she knew Lin was right in a sense. Whether or not she would listen to him… that was another story.

She felt like she needed to be there. Something was calling to her, and ever since dying, she had grown the resolve to solve this particular case. No matter what.

Sighing, Mai shifted her weight onto her heels and then looked back up at Lin. "I'll think about it. But no promises, okay?"

Lin nodded. Being as he had said what he wanted to say, he immediately put the car into gear, preparing to drive away. He wasn't one to waste words.

But, before driving off, he paused. "Mai?" he called. She blinked at him, a little surprised to find him looking directly at her. "Take care."

"Okay."

He nodded again and then turned back to the road. He and the SPR van were out of sight less than a minute later.

Mai turned back to her apartment building, sighing. She had quite a few stairs to climb, and almost no energy. She decided that before making any decision regarding her return to the laboratory, she would first drink a cup of tea and take a nice, long nap

…..

_Mai woke up in a narrow room, sort of like a hallway with no doors. Panic rose in her throat. How had she gotten here? The last thing she remembered…_

_A memory flashed in her mind. She had been doing paperwork in the basement when something had grabbed her from behind? Mai wasn't sure where the memory came from. It certainly wasn't her own._

Am I dreaming? _She questioned and, after a moment's thought, she realized that she must be. This calmed her a bit and she decided that she should stand and try to find out where she was exactly._

_Mai wandered farther down the corridor. It really was narrow; narrower than any other hallway she had ever had the pleasure of walking down. The air was dank and smelled of mildew, and there was next to no light to provide the vision necessary to see. Using her hands to guide her, Mai was able to make it to a doorway. The handle was warm to the touch, something she hadn't expected in such a cold room. She froze, hand on the doorknob. Something told her that she didn't want to go into that room._

_But she found herself turning the knob anyways, and Mai remembered again that this was a dream, and that she was only experiencing what someone else had gone through in the past._

_Anyways, it wasn't like she had anywhere else to go._

_The door clicked and slowly slid open, revealing an equally dank room, this one lit by candlelight. Everything was cast in an eerie glow, and Mai was reminded of the ghost stories she used to tell with her friends back before she had ever met Naru. This room felt like it had been taken directly out of a ghost story._

_After glancing around and seeing no one, Mai stepped forward slowly. She came to a stop in the center of the room. It appeared there was no one here and Mai laughed to herself, slightly embarrassed now for having felt so frightened._

_SLAM!_

_Her laughter was cut off and she turned quickly on her heel, eyes wide. "No…" She rushed forward, gripping the door handle in her hands and pulling. "No! Let me out!" Frantically, she pulled at the door, jiggling the door knob, but it wouldn't budge. She stepped back._

_"Please… please don't do this."_

_A chill crept down her spine at the feeling of a breath on the base of her throat. She was afraid to look down, but she couldn't help herself. Petrified, her eyes slowly fell to rest at the base of her neck, where a pair of long, bony fingers were wrapped delicately. They squeezed._

_The breath came closer. She could now hear someone breathing in her ear. She turned her head sideways and froze. She couldn't breathe anymore._

_A face loomed over her shoulder, if you could even call it that. The bloody mess could barely be identified as a human male. Its eyes were empty sockets, black and gooey. Its scalp was torn open in places, hair falling off in clumpy, gory hunks. _

_The thing smiled at her and blood oozed out from between its yellowed teeth._

_"Beg," It rasped in her ear._

_Mai gasped. Finally shocked out of her frozen state, she pulled sharply out of the ghoul's grasp, only to fall to her stomach, sprawled on the ground. She felt something cold grab onto her bare ankle and she shuddered to imagine that thing's fingers touching her. Mai looked around herself frantically, only to come face-to-face with her own reflection._

_She froze again, breath leaving her lungs all at once, and the fingers grasping her ankle were momentarily forgotten. "No… this is a dream, right?" she whispered, heart beating faster than she thought possible. If this was a dream, then she shouldn't be seeing her own face in the mirror, because she wasn't really there._

_New terror entered her veins, but it didn't last long. Because it wasn't but a moment later that she saw the bloody figure of the ghost come up behind her and wrap one hand around her throat, and then the other. She tried to shake him off of her, but, once again, she couldn't move. She stared at her own reflection as he strangled her and she witnessed it as the light slowly drained from her eyes._

_Then everything went dark, and she was dead again._

_….._

Mai gasped and sat straight up in bed. She quickly lifted her hands up to her throat and then winced at the contact.

The pain brought her back to herself, and woke her up a little more. She took a deep breath and looked around her. She was in her room, sitting on her bed. There was no corridor, no room with a ghoul. And she wasn't dead.

It had been a dream after all.

Mai pulled her knees up to her chest and tried to swallow the sob making its way up her throat. But the effort was in vain. Burying her face in her lap, she let her emotions out, soaking her nightgown in the process. She hardly cared.

Right now all she could think about, all she could feel, was the horror of that death, and what it all meant.

Tomorrow she would have to go the laboratory.

Tomorrow she would have to tell the gang about this dream, and about its connection to her. And, in the process, she would have to tell them about a part of her past she hadn't yet told anyone.

She'd have to trust Naru with her secrets, and hope that he could solve this case. For her sake.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – Finding a Lost Nee-chan

Mai arrived early the next morning, early enough that only Naru and Lin were awake to see her sneak into the laboratory through the back entrance. Naru rolled his eyes upon seeing her on the camera. Certainly she didn't think he wouldn't know she was sneaking in, being as she was the one to set up those camera's herself? She may as well have knocked on the front door.

"Lin?" Lin looked up from his computer laptop and looked silently at Naru. "I have some business to attend to. I will be right back." Naru stood and walked away. It was only after Naru was out of sight that Lin set his laptop down and went over to look at the tv monitors to see where Mai was, and where Naru was off to. He had known by the look on Mai's face yesterday when he drove her home from the hospital that she would be back.

But he was surprised at where he found her heading when he looked at the television screen. Instead of trying to find Naru to convince him to let her stay, she was headed towards the basement. He zoomed in on her face.

He had never seen such an angry and determined look on Mai's face before in his life. What was that girl doing?

. . . .

Mai stopped at the basement door. She was afraid, really deeply afraid. Not for her life, but for what she might find by going down there. She knew she had to do it though, had to learn the truth.

Each wooden stair creaked as she went down, but she didn't flinch. She refused to show her fear or her panic. She preferred the cold anger that she felt resonating through her bones, and when she concentrated hard enough, that anger overcame all other emotion. Once she came to the bottom of the stairs she looked around her. She had only been down here once before, to measure the temperature and the size of the room. There wasn't a camera down in the basement, because the laboratory had too many rooms and SPR had too few cameras.

Mai walked directly to the back wall, avoiding the desks with odd papers and computers and other office supplies as she went. She laid her hand against the wall and took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. She looked around her. If she were right, then there had to be a lever or a switch or something around here…

"Mai!" Despite her natural instinct to jump up whenever he called her name, Mai didn't move at Naru's demanding voice. She had her hand stuck behind a shelf, running her fingers over whatever surface she could reach without having to move the heavy shelf that was obviously too big for her strength alone. "Mai?! What are you doing?"

Again, she didn't answer. Naru sighed in exasperation and stalked to his short brown haired assistant. "Are you listening to me?"

There was a click and Mai gasped. "Oh my gosh!" Quickly, she pulled her hand out from behind the shelf and toppled backwards, eyes wide.

"What happened? Are you alright?" Naru pulled back on Mai's shoulder to check her face, anger written on his own. He didn't like having to cater to Mai because she wasn't listening, but he couldn't help the instinct to check her over.

He was surprised at what he found. Mai wasn't hurt, per say, but her face was somehow off. There was a hard look in her eyes, replacing the happy glow he had become accustomed to. She was staring at something. He turned and his own eyes widened.

Where there was once a wall there was now a gaping doorway leading to who knows where.

Naru's first instinct was to go check it out. His second was to take Mai upstairs and make sure she never set foot in that intimidating hole in the wall. Thankfully, Naru didn't have to hurt his pride by choosing between the two choices. Mai stood up. At first Naru thought she was heading toward the secret passage, and thought he might have to stop her. But she turned and began to make her way upstairs.

"Mai, where are you going?" Naru demanded. She turned. There was a slightly vacant and determined look in her eye.

"Keiko-san is here," was all she said before heading upstairs.

Naru scowled and briefly wondered how she could know such a thing before following her upstairs.

. . . .

The entire gang, plus Keiko, were all seated together in the kitchen. Strangely enough, Naru was not the most intimidating person in the room. Everyone found Mai's sudden change in attitude a little scary to say the least. She radiated anger and her cold distantness reminded everyone of Naru a little too much for their liking.

Keiko-san looked nervous, but as though she had expected this to happen. She kept glancing down at her lap and then looking at Mai with a mixture of pity and shame in her eyes.

Finally, Monk broke the silence. "What are you doing here Keiko-san? Did you have something to tell us?"

Keiko looked surprised for a moment, glancing at all of the faces around her. "What do you mean, I-"

"I called her." Mai sat forward and gave Keiko a dark look. "I had something to discuss with Keiko-san."

A shiver ran down Monk's back, and he thought he saw the same reaction from Ayako.

Keiko took a deep breath and then looked Mai in the eye. "Okay. Go ahead. I will answer as honestly as possible."

"What was the name of your friend who died here?"

Keiko tilted her head. "How do you know she died? I told you she disappeared."

"Common sense," Mai answered.

Keiko laughed. "You expect me to be honest with you when you can't even be honest with me?"

There was a lapse of silence. Monk had no idea what was going on. All he could tell was that Keiko and Mai obviously were butting heads, and about something very important. Monk glanced at Naru to see if he could make any sense of this, but, for once, Naru looked just as lost as everyone else.

When Mai finally broke the silence, Monk's eyes quickly averted back to her face. "Sometimes I have dreams, about the past or the future or the present, doesn't matter. Sometimes I just see things. I had a dream about a girl who was killed in a secret passage in the basement. I think that girl was your friend."\

By now, everyone's eyes were fixed on Mai in surprise. She hadn't told them about this dream, not yet anyways. Everyone except for Keiko seemed shocked. Keiko's eyes only seemed to pity Mai in some way. Monk wondered whether Keiko knew something everyone else didn't.

Mai's eyes seemed distant, and sort of sad, for a second, but she snapped out of it quickly, returning to her angered and determined state. "Tell me who she was." Mai demanded. Again, Monk was reminded of an angry Naru.

"I think you know who she was," Keiko responded. The two girls were staring intently into each other's eyes, almost having an unspoken conversation with the emotions their eyes portrayed.

"I need to hear you say it." Mai was sounding a little breathless.

There was silence and then, finally, "Mei-chan. Your sister. Your twin."

. . . .

Mai's heart was pounding in her chest. She needed to hear this, although she felt that she already knew the answer. If she didn't hear it directly from Keiko-san's lips, she feared she would never truly believe the truth. She took a breath.

"I need to hear you say it." Mai had intended to sound strong and unaffected, but she just sounded breathless in her own ears.

There was an awful tension filled silence and then, "Mei-chan. Your sister. Your twin."

Those words. I thought my heart would stop. I couldn't breathe. All I could think was 'why?' Why did this happen? Why her? Why couldn't I stop it? Why wasn't I there?

No. No, this couldn't be true. This wasn't right. I haven't seen Mei in years. We were supposed to meet again, make up, be a happy family. She was all that was left. She couldn't be… not _that_.

"Mei is… No. No!" I grabbed my stomach, as if trying to hold something inside of me, and doubled over. "No! You're wrong. You have to be wrong. She isn't… she can't be…"

"Mai." I wasn't listening. Not to this person, not to this stranger who was telling me that my sister was… "Mai!" I looked up and into the eyes of Keiko-san. She was on her knees in front of me, staring into my eyes with pity. "Your twin, Mei, is dead."

I knew she wasn't lying.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – Coincidences and Hurt

Naru was shocked, to say the least. He didn't wait until Mai had completed calmed down, even though he knew it was the polite thing to do. He stood up.

"Mai," The girl looked up at him, and there was a familiar pain and numbness in her eyes. It was the same emotion he had dealt with himself when he had found out about his own twin. Naru scowled. To think, Mai had been dealing with a similar situation and he had never known… The thought of that made him angry. "Why didn't you tell me you had a twin? You said your family was dead."

Mai gave him a long look. She seemed to be caught between sadness and anger. At first Naru thought she was going to snap at him for having been so inconsiderate. He didn't know that Mai's anger was directed toward someone else.

Mai looked down, obviously trying to get a handle on all of her emotions. "It didn't seem important," was all she said.

Naru did not find the answer satisfying. It only grew his curiosity. But the harsh look from Ayako reminded him that this was not the time nor place for such discussions.

Mai sighed, swiped a finger under her eye, and stood up. She dusted herself off, as if the motion might get rid of her negative emotions as well as the dirt. "Keiko, you can go. If you have any more information, please email me."

Mai spoke in her usual shipper manner, but the words made her unspoken message clear: I can't deal with anything more you have to say right now. For once, Naru didn't blame Mai for her typically unreasonable emotions.

Mai turned and smiled at Keiko and Naru had to wonder at how well she pulled it off. It suddenly hit him that maybe Mai's happy responses to everything in the past may have been nothing more than an act; a mask not unlike his own.

He didn't want to think that Mai may not be as happy as she let on.

Mai spoke to Keiko for a moment and then the two left together. Presumably, Mai was showing Keiko to the door. Always polite his assistant was, no matter how unreasonable the circumstances.

The group was silent and the room turned cold with unspoken words as soon as Mai left. No one k new what to do or say and, for once, Naru was caught in somewhat emotional turmoil with the rest of them. He was speechless.

Finally, he broke the silence. "Did anyone know anything about this?" He asked. There was a general shaking of heads and Naru let out a quiet sigh of relief. He didn't really understand why, but he didn't want to think that one of them knew anything about Mai's twin and he didn't. Anyways, being that he was the one with experience with missing twins, it should have been him she spoke to first. Not some singing monk or a crazy priestess or anything.

"I can't believe this," Monk said, shaking his head in disbelief. Ayako nodded in agreement. "Our Mai. She has a twin that she never told us about." He paused, something on the tip of his tongue. Naru thought he knew what the monk was thinking and decided to bring it to light.

"Why was she keeping her twin a secret from us?" Naru asked, and there was none of the hurt or betrayal that he felt in his voice, as there would have been in monks had he been the one to voice the thought. But Naru wasn't talking about betrayal. "What is it that Mai is trying to keep secret?"

No one had time to speculate on the matter because, in that moment, Mai returned. She was wearing too big a smile for the situation and it was clear to everyone how much the young girl must be hurting. But none of them could look at Mai now without wondering at what she was hiding from them. Naru was right. Clearly, she thought something in her life was important enough to deliberately keep it a secret from them.

Mai clapped her hands together, successfully pulling everyone away from their inner thoughts and forcing their eyes on her. "Okay!" The girl smiled. "Who wants tea?"

"No tea."

Mai looked shocked when she turned to look at Naru. "What?" she questioned, "No tea for our favorite tea loving narcissist?"

Naru's eyes narrowed at her and he was truly tempted to begin their usual bickering (or, more pointedly, his coolly pushing her buttons just to see her lose her head), despite how inappropriate it would be for such a situation. But, again, Ayako shot him a look and he thought better of it.

Ayako was really an annoying person.

"Everyone is going to continue their work while you and I," Naru looked pointedly at Mai, "go talk about this new development." When Monk went to open his mouth Naru added quickly, "Alone."

The rest of the SPR team got up and began to go their separate ways. "Mai, meet me in the base in ten minutes." Mai nodded and began to leave when Naru thought better of his decision and stopped her. "Bring tea," he said.

Mai smiled to herself as she left, walking quickly to the kitchen.

The familiar actions of making Naru's tea soothed her, and she was glad Naru had given her this chance to be by herself for a moment. She needed to collect her thoughts, to decide what she was going to tell her make-shift family.

It wasn't like she had much to keep secret. It was just that no one actually knew about the story she was about to have to share with Naru.

Mai carried the tea to the base and, for a moment she thought she heard her sister's voice, telling her it was okay. But when Mai jumped and quickly turned around, no one was there. She sighed.

"Here's your tea, Naru." Mai said, setting the cup down in front of him as soon as she arrived. Naru was sat in his usual seat, his usual cold expression on his face. Mai took a seat across from him and nervously picked at a piece of dust on her sweater. Taking a sip of tea, Naru began.

"Well?" He asked, raising his eyebrow with a pointed look. Mai swallowed and then deflated.

"I'm sorry Naru," she said, not able to meet his eyes out of shame. "I didn't really mean to keep her a secret from you. There just… there wasn't really a good time to bring it up. I… I really am sorry." Slowly, Mai looked up from her lap to meet the narcissist's eyes. He studied her for a moment and then nodded.

There was a silence and Mai tilted her head curiously at Naru's face, which was growing more and more uncomfortable looking as time passed. Finally, he said what was on his mind. "You saw your sister's death. Was it third person or were you…"

The last part to the question was left unspoken and Mai suddenly understood why Naru had grown uncomfortable. But she also understood why he was asking.

"I was her. In the dream, I was my sister when she died. I saw it through her eyes."

Naru nodded slowly and looked away. "I'm sorry," he said. And, again, he was struck by how similar their circumstances really were. Because, he too had had the horrifying opportunity to experience his twin's death through his own eyes.

He turned to look at Mai again. He had one more thing to clear up. Clearing his throat he looked down and spoke at his tea cup.

"Mai, why didn't you say anything. When I told you about Gene… you still kept this a secret from me. Why?" He cringed. Why had he just said she had kept it a secret from him, not the entire group, as if it was something personal?

But Mai didn't catch his phrasing, or at least she must have not thought it was strange of him to put it that way.

She frowned, looking guilty. "I'm so, so sorry Naru. I didn't want to keep it from you. I guess… I guess, at the time, there was so much going on. And I just was so shocked at how crazy big of a coincidence it must have been. To think, you and I would meet and work together. That we would both have twins who were missing, and both be orphans, and both have some sort of psychic powers and have a twin with psychic powers. It's just… It's sort of overwhelming."

Naru understood exactly what she meant. Unlike for Mai, who had known about this for some time, the huge unlikeliness of this situation was just hitting him. Naru didn't believe in fate, but this coincidence was almost too big to handle.

"You're missing one," he said, and Mai cocked her head in confusion. He cringed but met her eyes. "We both found out about our twin's deaths by experiencing it ourselves."

Mai looked startled, and then grief washed over her. "Yes, that too," she admitted. "But we have something that makes us different too. Mei and I weren't on good terms. Unlike you and Gene, we've never been close. In as fact, I haven't seen Mei since I was ten."

That was surprising to Naru. He knew that nothing could have separated him and gene for that long, save death itself. It was strange for him to think that some twins weren't as close as him and Gene had been.

"What happened?" Naru asked.

Mai shook her head. "I don't know. I have no memories of anything before my mother died. But Mei left to go to America when we turned ten, only two weeks after mom died. Only Mei could tell you what happened. She never explained why she left me like that."

"Mai, it could have been that Mei didn't have a choice. When it comes to young orphans… sometimes siblings have to be separated." Oliver just thanked the gods, or fate or chance or whatever was out there, that he and Gene managed to be adopted by the same family.

Mai shook her head. "Mei was given a choice. Stay in Japan with me, or go to America and leave me behind. She decided to leave." Mai took a breath and let it out slowly. "Naru, my twin decided to leave _me,_ and I don't know why."

**A/N Sorry guys. It's not the most exciting chapter in the world, but I am trying to get some things explained and the plot moving so...**


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